We are doing some longer term planning for college and I am trying to think of what expenses are that are not covered by 529. Here is my short list (to be clear I don't plan to afford all of this but just working to develop a list).
- Travel to and from
- Dorm room decor or apartment furnishings
- Utilities if living off campus
- Cell phone
- Heath insurance of child
- Car/car insurance
-

If you have a child in college who is not living at home what are monthly costs looking like? Thanks!

Since high school students already have cell phones, health insurance, car insurance, but no car, I do not include these as college costs. Travel to/from is limited and say $50 for anything within 600 miles.

Hill-
I am currently smack dab in the middle of 12 years of college tuition. 6 done, 6 to go.
I think your list looks OK, although I would question Utilities. If you can cover Room and Board, I would think Utilities is included as part of that, but I have not researched it that closely.

In Texas I am spending about $900-1000 a month for Apartment, Utilities (Elec, Cable/Internet, Water), and Food Allowance. This does not include books, gas, auto insurance, apt furnishings.

I see the first item on your list is travel to/from school. I totally underestimated the cost of flying two kids to other states. Obviously if your kids go to college within driving distance this will be much less.

Thanks. I had not given this any thought, but I still have better than a decade to worry about it. If some are estimating close to $10k a year, do you just over fund 529 or use another vehicle? I am a big planner.

I would think that having a student responsible for his/her own cell phone bill after high school graduation would be a good start on the march toward financial independence from parents. Offhand I'm not seeing exactly why a parent would need to fund a college student's cell phone bill....

Utilities are certainly qualified education expenses as long as the total with rent (excluding internet services) is <= the room allowance under the school's cost of attendance. Internet services qualify on their own.

Unfortunately, most schools use their dorm costs as the basis for the room allowance instead of the local housing market. If the school is in a HCOL area you may find the rent alone exceeds this

You may make it back in that off campus food costs can be well below the college required meal plans for dorm residents that usually forms the basis for the board allowance. Therefore, some of the room and board costs are not qualified education expenses. They must be funded from elsewhere.

In my case my youngest girl's school is in N VA just outside of DC. Even with a roommate and food costs about 1/2 of the minimum dorm required meal plan, total room and board exceeds the school's allowance.

I would think that having a student responsible for his/her own cell phone bill after high school graduation would be a good start on the march toward financial independence from parents. Offhand I'm not seeing exactly why a parent would need to fund a college student's cell phone bill....

It's usually cheaper to have an extra line on a family plan, even with a little extra data, than it is to have an individual plan.

As for other items from the original post:

Health insurance may or may not be an extra cost. If you have, say, kids who are 18 and in college, 14, and 12, and have family insurance through your employer, you probably won't have to pay anything extra. If you want to drop family coverage, then yes, it would likely be an extra cost.

Car/car insurance is another one that varies. If your child is at an urban campus and living on/just off of campus, they can probably do without a car. Ditto if they're at a campus with good bike lanes and a halfway decent bus system (one I'm familiar with as an example- UC Santa Barbara).

I would think that having a student responsible for his/her own cell phone bill after high school graduation would be a good start on the march toward financial independence from parents. Offhand I'm not seeing exactly why a parent would need to fund a college student's cell phone bill....

Well, the student should have a family plan and the parental cell phones should be on that plan. Offhand I'm not seeing exactly why a parent should have their own cell phone plan when their kids should pay for all the phones in the family.

I see the first item on your list is travel to/from school. I totally underestimated the cost of flying two kids to other states. Obviously if your kids go to college within driving distance this will be much less.

I just spoke with a neighbor who said the same -- has a child in a school across the country. Parent's weekend and then add to that move in and holidays/summer, it adds up.

Utilities are certainly qualified education expenses as long as the total with rent (excluding internet services) is <= the room allowance under the school's cost of attendance. Internet services qualify on their own.

Unfortunately, most schools use their dorm costs as the basis for the room allowance instead of the local housing market. If the school is in a HCOL area you may find the rent alone exceeds this

You may make it back in that off campus food costs can be well below the college required meal plans for dorm residents that usually forms the basis for the board allowance. Therefore, some of the room and board costs are not qualified education expenses. They must be funded from elsewhere.

In my case my youngest girl's school is in N VA just outside of DC. Even with a roommate and food costs about 1/2 of the minimum dorm required meal plan, total room and board exceeds the school's allowance.

The “cost of attendance” referred to above can be found on a college’s website.

If the “room and board” portion of cost of attendance is, for example, $5,000 a semester then you can’t use more than $5,000 in 529 funds to cover those costs even if you are actually paying $7,500 for an off-campus apartment and food.

- season tickets to football games for student - approx $230
- fitness center fee - $120
- fraternity / sorority fee - I have seen this as high as $500 per semester and as low as $50 per semester
- cost of attending a football game for the parents and 2 siblings - this can get very expensive if your student goes to a school with a major football program and you spend the weekend at a local hotel ; for 1 game, figure on anywhere from $1,000 - $3,000 for tickets, hotel, parking, meals, tailgate costs, etc... ; when Flagship State U plays Flagship State U from 1 or 2 states away and they are both in the top 10, some hotels will charge upwards of $600 per night and you have to pay for Fri and Sat (and book the room up to a year in advance). So to save money, see Flagship State U play one of the doormats on the schedule early in the season
- Clothing with the school logo
- Food, food, and more food ; my kids gradually stopped eating at the dining hall, so I gave them a grocery allowance that was equivalent to the standard meal plan.

I would think that having a student responsible for his/her own cell phone bill after high school graduation would be a good start on the march toward financial independence from parents. Offhand I'm not seeing exactly why a parent would need to fund a college student's cell phone bill....

Heh, offhand I don't even see why a high school student needs a cell phone, though I'm guessing ten years from now my daughter will start trying to convince me otherwise.

To OP, I would say that most of the regular living expenses apply to a college student just like they'd apply to anyone else. The only real different is paying for tuition/books. Other than that, you still need a place to live, food to eat, etc.

I would think that having a student responsible for his/her own cell phone bill after high school graduation would be a good start on the march toward financial independence from parents. Offhand I'm not seeing exactly why a parent would need to fund a college student's cell phone bill....

Heh, offhand I don't even see why a high school student needs a cell phone, though I'm guessing ten years from now my daughter will start trying to convince me otherwise.

Cell phones are the primary means of communications for high school/college kids (and even older).

If your kid does not have one, s/he is going to be in a difficult position socially.

- season tickets to football games for student - approx $230
- fitness center fee - $120
- fraternity / sorority fee - I have seen this as high as $500 per semester and as low as $50 per semester
- cost of attending a football game for the parents and 2 siblings - this can get very expensive if your student goes to a school with a major football program and you spend the weekend at a local hotel ; for 1 game, figure on anywhere from $1,000 - $3,000 for tickets, hotel, parking, meals, tailgate costs, etc... ; when Flagship State U plays Flagship State U from 1 or 2 states away and they are both in the top 10, some hotels will charge upwards of $600 per night and you have to pay for Fri and Sat (and book the room up to a year in advance). So to save money, see Flagship State U play one of the doormats on the schedule early in the season
- Clothing with the school logo
- Food, food, and more food ; my kids gradually stopped eating at the dining hall, so I gave them a grocery allowance that was equivalent to the standard meal plan.

Hockey10-
these are definitely extra expenses associated with having a college student, BUT other than food- I do not believe any of them would be eligible to be paid with 529 monies.

- season tickets to football games for student - approx $230
- fitness center fee - $120
- fraternity / sorority fee - I have seen this as high as $500 per semester and as low as $50 per semester
- cost of attending a football game for the parents and 2 siblings - this can get very expensive if your student goes to a school with a major football program and you spend the weekend at a local hotel ; for 1 game, figure on anywhere from $1,000 - $3,000 for tickets, hotel, parking, meals, tailgate costs, etc... ; when Flagship State U plays Flagship State U from 1 or 2 states away and they are both in the top 10, some hotels will charge upwards of $600 per night and you have to pay for Fri and Sat (and book the room up to a year in advance). So to save money, see Flagship State U play one of the doormats on the schedule early in the season
- Clothing with the school logo
- Food, food, and more food ; my kids gradually stopped eating at the dining hall, so I gave them a grocery allowance that was equivalent to the standard meal plan.

Hockey10-
these are definitely extra expenses associated with having a college student, BUT other than food- I do not believe any of them would be eligible to be paid with 529 monies.

This thread is focused on college expenses NOT covered by a 529, so his addition was perfectly correct.

- season tickets to football games for student - approx $230
- fitness center fee - $120
- fraternity / sorority fee - I have seen this as high as $500 per semester and as low as $50 per semester
- cost of attending a football game for the parents and 2 siblings - this can get very expensive if your student goes to a school with a major football program and you spend the weekend at a local hotel ; for 1 game, figure on anywhere from $1,000 - $3,000 for tickets, hotel, parking, meals, tailgate costs, etc... ; when Flagship State U plays Flagship State U from 1 or 2 states away and they are both in the top 10, some hotels will charge upwards of $600 per night and you have to pay for Fri and Sat (and book the room up to a year in advance). So to save money, see Flagship State U play one of the doormats on the schedule early in the season
- Clothing with the school logo
- Food, food, and more food ; my kids gradually stopped eating at the dining hall, so I gave them a grocery allowance that was equivalent to the standard meal plan.

Hockey10-
these are definitely extra expenses associated with having a college student, BUT other than food- I do not believe any of them would be eligible to be paid with 529 monies.

This thread is focused on college expenses NOT covered by a 529, so his addition was perfectly correct.

Yes true, my mistake. I lost sight of the original post as the thread was zig-zagging to non-covered/covered.

I found out the hard way that costs in EXCESS of published cost of attendance costs were not 529 qualified expenses. This became an issue when apartment costs in a HCOL area and food costs far exceeded the pubished dorm fees with board. I had to reimburse myself the costs from the 529 that were far lower than room and board. Also, be careful on the calendar year and academic year payment issue. They are (or can be) out of phase and you can run into IRS issues if you withdraw from a 529 to pay for college expenses in a different calendar and academic year. I learned the hard way!

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" |
Do you know how to make a rain dance work? Dance until it rains.

I think the question on that one is whether payment of this fee is required as a condition for enrollment vs a voluntary fee?

No, that's not how it works. There are certain fees that the school says are mandatory, but even so these are not 529 qualified fees. Besides a fitness center fee, this could include a health center fee or a mandatory fee for health insurance (if the student is not otherwise covered by an acceptable health insurance policy).

Thanks. I had not given this any thought, but I still have better than a decade to worry about it. If some are estimating close to $10k a year, do you just over fund 529 or use another vehicle? I am a big planner.

We just spent less on other things when the kids were in college.
Money is fungible - you don't have to have special earmarked accounts with 100% of every possible cost for that activity put away.
We did save the total cost of attendance for 1 kid for two years in 529's for the two overlap years.
Now that the kids are out of college we are spending more on things we cut back on during the college years.
We spent way less on miscellaneous/extra college expenses than we thought. But my kids are cheap.

I would think that having a student responsible for his/her own cell phone bill after high school graduation would be a good start on the march toward financial independence from parents. Offhand I'm not seeing exactly why a parent would need to fund a college student's cell phone bill....

Heh, offhand I don't even see why a high school student needs a cell phone, though I'm guessing ten years from now my daughter will start trying to convince me otherwise.

To OP, I would say that most of the regular living expenses apply to a college student just like they'd apply to anyone else. The only real different is paying for tuition/books. Other than that, you still need a place to live, food to eat, etc.

When my kids hit middle school a few years ago, the cell phone debate started. I held them off until the 7th grade...and by that time it seemed like all their peers had cell phones. It does help us communicate with them about picking up, sports practice cancellations, etc.

I'm not a fan of them having it, but it has helped us...I don't think the cost/benefit analysis would show the benefit (for the parent) was more than the cost.

When my kids hit middle school a few years ago, the cell phone debate started. I held them off until the 7th grade...and by that time it seemed like all their peers had cell phones. It does help us communicate with them about picking up, sports practice cancellations, etc.

I'm not a fan of them having it, but it has helped us...I don't think the cost/benefit analysis would show the benefit (for the parent) was more than the cost.

4 people on a Verizon plan = $215/month

Ouch. That's more expensive than our ten lines with T-Mobile. I didn't buy myself a cell phone until I was 23. You might argue that it's a different time now, but my brother is 15 and doesn't have one. Where do 7th graders go without their parents? School? Call from the school's office. A friend's house? Just bike back when you're done. I guess I'm a man of simple tastes. Wish my daughter luck when I introduce her to the NES when she turns three.

Don't forget typical supplies such as paper, notebooks, engineering graph paper (pricey).
Cost of copying at the library
Laundry (daughter came home & raided the change jar for quarters)
Interview clothes.
Club costs.
Weekend retreats/conferences (although my son's expenses as a volunteer research assistant were paid).

Our general philosophy has been that we (+ FL Bright Futures Scholarship) will pay tuition, books, fees, room & board expenses. If living off campus, we give them the school's room & board rate. Daughter has the 15 yr old van & we pay the insurance. Every trip home she gets a gas card or two as a bribe. We split the cost of RUF retreats as we value her continued participation. She is also blessed with a grandparent who sends her a few hundred dollars for "educational expenses" so I think she has more than enough. If not, she has money saved from summer jobs.

My wife and I contribute approximately $12k/year to our son's 529 (he is three years old). In other words, I fully believe it funding it, but I'm not all that excited about the prospect of having a sizable surplus, so I don't think we'll ever attempt to substantially juice our contributions beyond the annual gift tax limit, for example.

I would think that having a student responsible for his/her own cell phone bill after high school graduation would be a good start on the march toward financial independence from parents. Offhand I'm not seeing exactly why a parent would need to fund a college student's cell phone bill....

How about clothing? Anyone know?
Can 529 savings plans be used for shirts, pants, jackets, underwear, socks, etc.?

I have searched several sites and an unable to find an answer, whether it be yes or no.

It would be a big no. You can deduct computer costs and books. You are limited to the published COA for R&B. Of course, just like taxes, you can do whatever you want. It’s only an issue if you get audited.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" |
Do you know how to make a rain dance work? Dance until it rains.

Spring break
Christmas Break
Other breaks and trips with friends
Semester abroad
Moving costs
Your costs of visiting
Parking - some places parking is $200 a month on top of rent. I would consider picking a school where a car is not needed.

At my daughter's college, there is a one week transition when everyone must move out so that the apartments can be cleaned and repaired, etc. The following week everyone moves in. So there is a one week period every year of inconvenience and some expense is incurred, regardless of the options.

Also potential costs of boyfriends/girlfriends and visiting back and forth.
Clothing costs for formals, events, interviewing.

Yoga studio, concerts, other events.
A variety of expenses you could never have dreamed of.

These seem like living expenses occurred by just about everyone, whether in college or not.

+1

I didn't see the point of saving for something that I was used to paying every month for my son already. Tuition and R&B were what I focused on.

Saving for college is a lot like saving for retirement in that often a combination of different types of savings vehicles is best. My son is starting this Fall and the funding is coming from 529, taxable accounts, grants and scholarships, tax credits, and student work. Basically all the extras he can work for. It's not hard for a student to make a few thousand a year even if they only work in the Summer. That's plenty of blow money for a student that has all their needs covered.

When my kids hit middle school a few years ago, the cell phone debate started. I held them off until the 7th grade...and by that time it seemed like all their peers had cell phones. It does help us communicate with them about picking up, sports practice cancellations, etc.

I'm not a fan of them having it, but it has helped us...I don't think the cost/benefit analysis would show the benefit (for the parent) was more than the cost.

4 people on a Verizon plan = $215/month

Ouch. That's more expensive than our ten lines with T-Mobile. I didn't buy myself a cell phone until I was 23. You might argue that it's a different time now, but my brother is 15 and doesn't have one. Where do 7th graders go without their parents? School? Call from the school's office. A friend's house? Just bike back when you're done. I guess I'm a man of simple tastes. Wish my daughter luck when I introduce her to the NES when she turns three.

My 9 year old has a cell phone, but the data is disabled. I don't have a landline and he is home alone occasionally. My 17 year old has probably had a phone since age 10 or 11...I can't remember. Same reason. Home alone with no phone, plus visited his father on the weekends and I wanted to be able to call and talk to him directly. He was also in a lot of activities starting by age 12 or so, and it just made life easier for me if he could call when he needed to be picked up or there were a change of plans. It is different today. There aren't public phones all over like there were when I was a kid. By high school it was pretty much a necessity. All the teachers used group texts and email to communicate with students during the day, and their homework/grading etc. was all in a phone app. It could be accessed with a laptop, but much easier to check on the go with a phone.

I pay $50-$60/month for 3 lines for myself and both kids. Totally worth it to me.

@psy1 is correct. There is no longer any school requirement necessary.

Congress enacted a change years age to 26 U.S. Code § 529.Qualified tuition programs, (e) Other definitions and special rules, (3) Qualified higher education expenses, (iii)

expenses for the purchase of computer or peripheral equipment (as defined in section 168(i)(2)(B)), computer software (as defined in section 197(e)(3)(B)), or Internet access and related services, if such equipment, software, or services are to be used primarily by the beneficiary during any of the years the beneficiary is enrolled at an eligible educational institution.

Clause (iii) shall not include expenses for computer software designed for sports, games, or hobbies unless the software is predominantly educational in nature.